Huzzah! Essex Base Ball Club honors the game’s early history

PORTSMOUTH — The players don’t wear gloves and an out can be recorded by catching the ball on a bounce. Those are two aspects of vintage “base ball” that differentiate it from modern baseball.

But the real giveaway is the lingo.

A “muffin” is a player who makes an error. A ground ball is referred to as a “well-placed daisy cutter” and to encourage a pitcher to throw strikes, his teammates exhort him to “stop throwing the jim-jams”.

Those quirks, plus a penchant for handlebar moustaches, are the trademarks of the Essex Base Ball Club, a group devoted to playing the game of baseball the way it was played during its early days, around the time of the Civil War.

“It was more of a gentlemanly game,” said Brian Sheehy of Methuen, Mass., a vintage base ball enthusiast who is the current president of the Essex Base Ball Club. “It was played for health and social interaction. At the end of each game, both teams lined up and saluted each other for a well-played game. They thanked the umpire, thanked the crowd, and gave a hearty ‘Huzzah!’”

All of which is part of the ritual when the Essex Base Ball Club plays its games at Spencer Perice-Little Farm in Newbury, Mass.

The newest team in the league is the Portsmouth Rockinghams, a tribute to the real-life team of the same name which played in the city from 1866 to 1867.The other three teams are the Lynn Live Oaks, the Lowell Base Ball Nine and the Newburyport Clamdiggers. The Essex Base Ball Club also sponsors a traveling team that will play next month at a showcase in Cooperstown, N.Y., where legend says Abner Doubleday invented the game in 1839. While all games are played in Newbury, Sheehy said the Rockinghams will make an appearance at Leary Field in Portsmouth in August. The club will also hold an open tryout/practice on May 4 at Strawbery Banke.

If the term “vintage baseball” evokes images of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb or Tris Speaker, think again. The time era of the Essex Base Ball Club even predates Honus Wagner, Cap Anson and Mordecai Centennial “Three-Finger” Brown.

“Back in the Civil War they were playing baseball,” Sheehy said. “What we do allows people to reconnect with the history of the game. Back in the Civil War they were playing baseball. You can see why the game changed and evolved, and see a part of the game many never knew existed.”

Baseball players did not start wearing gloves until about 1870, so gloves are not worn by the Essex Base Ball club.

“The ball’s a little bit softer, but you get used to it,” Sheehy said. “It’s like catching a football. You have to get down on the ball. The fielder can catch the ball on one bounce for an out, and I personally think that gives our style of play a bit more of a scientific approach.”

And forget about picking up equipment for vintage base ball at a modern sporting-good store. Although some equipment for vintage base ball is available on the internet, most of the balls and bats used by the Essex Base Ball club are homemade.

“It’s called a lemon-peel baseball,” Sheehy said. “I used to hand-make them. I make a lot of them that we sell, and there are some specialty retailers.”

The bats are different as well. Unlike a modern bat with a thin handle and thick barrel, vintage base ball uses heavy wood bats with a big barrel and a gradual taper toward the handle. The league has its own custom bat maker.

Sheehy has played baseball all his life, and his interest in the vintage version of the game stemmed from his time working at his college library.

“A friend started an old-time baseball team, and I fell in love with the whole history of it,” Sheehy said. “But when you’ve played baseball you’re whole life, you get accustomed to playing modern baseball.”

While the games are held purely for the recreation of the participants and the entertainment of those in attendance, Sheehy said the competition is legitimate.

“It’s competitive, but not super competitive,” Sheehy said. “There are no fights. We have good, competitive games where people don’t take it too seriously.”

The league tries to make the game-day experience as authentic as possible, but they allow themselves a few modern conveniences, such as uniforms made with modern fabric.

“Our old uniforms were heavy canvas, but we’ve upgraded,” Sheehy said. “We got new uniforms that look vintage but are a little more breathable. When you’re playing doubleheaders and it’s 95 degrees, you can get drenched with sweat.”

Sheehy said most games move quickly, and a nine-inning game takes about 90 minutes to play. Most days the Essex Base Ball Club schedules doubleheaders.

The league did take one step to “modernize.” Instead of playing by 1861 rules, this year the league will play by 1864 rules. And believe it or not, there are subtle differences.